"The Twilight Zone"
Gramma/Personal Demons/Cold Reading (1986)

Directors:

Bradford May
Peter Medak

Writers:

Harlan Ellison (segment)
Stephen King (story) (segment "Gramma")

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1985)

Original Air Date:

14 February 1986 (Season 1, Episode 18)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller | Horror

Plot:

An imaginative young boy who is terrified of his ancient and infirm grandmother is left in charge of her when his mother is called away.

Plot Keywords:

Demon | Announcer | Grandmother | Widow | Character Name In Title

Cast

Charles Aidman	...	Narrator (voice)
Penny Baker	...	Pam (segment "Personal Demons")
Martin Balsam	...	Rockne S. O'Bannon (segment "Personal Demons")
Thomas Bellin	...	Ed Winter (segment "Cold Reading")
Joel Brooks	...	Jack Holland (segment "Cold Reading")
Janet Carroll	...	Marilyn Cavendish (segment "Cold Reading")
Lou Carry	...	Creature (segment "Personal Demons")
Billy Curtis	...	Creature (segment "Personal Demons")
Stephen Flanigan	...	Gary (segment "Personal Demons")
Darlanne Fluegel	...	Mother (segment "Gramma")
Gary Friedkin	...	Creature (segment "Personal Demons")
Daniel Frishman	...	Creature (segment "Personal Demons") (as Dan Frishman)
Marlena Giovi	...	Widow (segment "Personal Demons")
Paul Keith	...	Paul Loomis (segment "Cold Reading")
Frederick Long	...	Gramma (segment "Gramma")
Tommy Madden	...	(segment "Personal Demons")
Ralph Manza	...	Sol (segment "Cold Reading")
Jerry Maren	...	(segment "Personal Demons")
Annette McCarthy	...	Carla (segment "Cold Reading")
Jon Melichar	...	Engineer (segment "Cold Reading")
Barret Oliver	...	George (segment "Gramma")
Mike Pniewski	...	Page (segment "Cold Reading")
Larry Poindexter	...	Milo Trent (segment "Cold Reading")
Clive Revill	...	Rockne's Agent (segment 'Personal Demons')
Kevin Scannell	...	Announcer (segment "Cold Reading")
Dick Shawn	...	Nelson Westbrook (segment "Cold Reading")
Joshua Shelley	...	Herman Gold (segment "Personal Demons")
Kevin Thompson	...	(segment "Personal Demons")

Demon genes passed down to grandson?/Writers guilt/Radio special effects.

Episode 18 of "The New Twilight Zone" from the 1985-86 CBS series featured three segments "Gramma", "Personal Demons", and "Cold Reading".

"Gramma" based on a short story from legendary horror novelist Stephen King features a young boy who's left at home to care for his ill and old grandmother. Oddly and strangely she stays at the end of a shuttered room at the end of the hall. Soon strange sounds, voices, wind, and spooks start to occur to the little boy. Finally he finds out a big surprise about grandma, and when mom returns though the boy has made it you can tell by his eyes an old family tradition has been passed on.

"Personal Demons" has Rockne O' Bannon(Martin Balsam) as a washed up and struggling old TV show writer who's searching for new ideas and stories to get over this latest case of writer's block. Ideas and haunted memories soon appear thru little men that look demon like, has the imagination gotten the best of him? Yet it appears these little guys have put a spark in his imagination for new writing ideas.

"Cold Reading" takes place in an age before the golden age of TV, when radio was king as people depended on it for their entertainment. As great plays are read over the airwaves like "Dick Noble", "African Explorer" it starts to invoke powers over the air as in the studio it's a special effects delight as the radio got a glimpse into the future of the TV age and it's way of entertainment.

Overall one of the better episodes of "The New Twilight Zone".